You’ve just bought SL/RL what would you do

[Wigan Riversider]

16 hours ago, Wigan Riversider said:

No salary cap 

Increase salary cap to £10 million if you prefer.

[lucky 7]

18 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

So a Polish national like Oledski wouldn't be allowed to be in the Leeds youth system?

He's a Dual national. I'm surprised you didn't know that before making your comment

[ELBOWSEYE]

Stop teams playing each other more than twice excluding cup and play off games. Less is more. 

[The storm]

4 hours ago, fighting irish said:

How would you change the ''dragging into touch rule?''

I'd ban all fans who worked in warehouses or call centres who believe they can develop a ten year business strategy 

[Scubby]

Everybody has to justify their place in the top flight by adding tangible value to the competition. If clubs can't then you don't stick them in just to make up the numbers, you find clubs that can.

If I bought the game I would want it to be considerably more valuable in 5-10 years time than it is right now. That doesn't happen by just putting up with #### and giving clubs a free pass to be bang average.

It also doesn't happen without a thriving national side that is given top billing around growth of the game. Men's and Women's teams.

[fighting irish]

11 minutes ago, The storm said:

I'd ban all fans who worked in warehouses or call centres who believe they can develop a ten year business strategy 

So would I mate, so would I. (Not really, but your post was very funny.)

[Red Willow]

I would employ a full time marketing team of the highest quality and pay them on results.

I'd employ a media spokesperson or 2 who knew how to sell the game.

I would employ development officers around the county. (UK)

I would fully fund the league structure below SL so that if a team is relegated it isn't the end.

I attempt to turn the sport into a professionally run team. I'd buy the aussie set up and make them play to my rules.

I'd also try to make the sport less dependent on SKY.

[Wigan Riversider]

6 hours ago, Wigan Riversider said:

Increase salary cap to £10 million if you prefer.

MjM 

Suggest a salary cap figure

 

 

 

[Dunbar]

As someone who has the good of the whole game at heart.

I would scrap the salary cap, assemble the world's best players on £10million a year each at Wigan.  Top the Super League and get through to the Challenge Cup Final.  Then, make myself the club captain and after the best 16 players that money could buy all but win the games, I would bring myself on with a minute to go in the Wembley Final and Super League Grand Final to lift the trophy.

For the good of the game of course.

[The Future is League]

33 minutes ago, Red Willow said:

I would employ a full time marketing team of the highest quality and pay them on results.

I'd employ a media spokesperson or 2 who knew how to sell the game.

I would employ development officers around the county. (UK)

I would fully fund the league structure below SL so that if a team is relegated it isn't the end.

I attempt to turn the sport into a professionally run team. I'd buy the aussie set up and make them play to my rules.

I'd also try to make the sport less dependent on SKY.

The RFL wouldn't  know what a marketing team looked like even if they stood outside Rugby League HQ with placards saying "We are a marketing team we can market your game and get more fans though the gates and get more sponsorship"

[whatmichaelsays]

45 minutes ago, Red Willow said:

I would employ a full time marketing team of the highest quality and pay them on results.

How are you defining "results"? 

Performance payment models sound great, and I've worked on plenty, but they encourage short-termism. That's the one thing I'd argue RL doesn't need more of right now. It needs both short and long term thinking and for that, you're paying for time, not just results. 

You also need to be careful about what marketing challenges you're wanting any such team to solve. Rugby League can't advertise it's way out of its problems. 

[The Future is League]

7 hours ago, Wigan Riversider said:

Increase salary cap to £10 million if you prefer.

Do all Super League clubs pay up to the full salary cap?

[whatmichaelsays]

For me, there are a couple of core areas I think the sport needs to focus on. 

1 - Quality. I will argue with anyone that this sport is the best in the world when it is played at its brilliant, spectacular best. The problem is that we don't see it at its brilliant, spectacular best often enough. You can't make every game a classic, but you can create an environment where you make it easy for the players to produce that brilliant, spectacular best as often as possible. 

For me, that means reducing the player workload and reducing the league season. I don't buy the argument for loop fixtures - I think there are better, more productive ways to use that time and that includes carving out time for internationals, "growth"-focused events (such as a short-form event) and player welfare breaks. The shortened season should, I would argue, reduce supporter fixture fatigue and ensure that more rides on each 2pts. 

2 - Accessibility. It's too difficult to "buy" RL if you aren't within earshot of the M62. RL isn't accessible enough for people who want to watch it, participating in the amateur game requires too much commitment and the media profile is not anywhere near big enough. 

The first step is to understand the prime growth audiences for the sport, where they are, what it can offer them, and how it can reach them. 

I'd massively invest in content creation, digital and media relations to ensure that RL content is both pushed to, and discoverable by, those growth audiences. All clubs would be KPI'd on that point and central funding would be linked to performance. 

I'd encourage forms of participation that require much less of a commitment in terms of both time (people don't want to train Tues and Thurs nights, as well as give up their entire Sunday) and risk (in an age of gig-employment, zero-hour contracts and ###### sick pay, who can afford to get injured?).

I'd host those "growth events" in cities close to where those audiences are. 

3 - Player welfare. This sport treats it's talent like dirt and it's frankly criminal that we force the players to pay for the poor commercial performance of the clubs. I would ensure that the salary cap is pegged to the rate of inflation (as a minimum) every year. I'd also ensure that clubs were compelled to fund further training and education programmes to prepare the players for life after rugby. RL will never set a player up for life, but the sport doesn't have a good record when it comes to our ex-pros ending up in the papers, in the courts or in the priory. 

The sport also needs to find ways to make the sport safer if it is going to encourage participation. We all know that a claim from an ex-professional is in the post - the sport has to be proactive on player welfare from top to grass roots.

[Wigan Riversider]

26 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Do all Super League clubs pay up to the full salary cap?

No idea.

Was Cristiano Ronaldo worth 900000 euros per week at Juventus?

If that's the going rate to watch class players and a benefactor can afford it, what's the issue?

[JohnM]

Simple, really. Rather charging fans to go through the turnstiles to watch the game, I'd do the reverse and pay the fans to go. If that doesn't increase attendances, nothing will.

[daz39]

Pay Toronto's debts/ ex-players so we can all start tugging over how they are going to take over the sport - again.

Tell Sky to eff off unless they improve the presentation of the game, after all we won't need their money.

Pay a terrestrial channel to show a live game every week.

Build a national rugby league stadium somewhere not too far south for our big games.

Give every club a monetary gift to start up and maintain an Academy.

Make every club affiliate to a non heartland town to create coaching schools to get new people interested, they must also play at least 1 on the road game in that town, they mustn't change towns until the game is fairly established in that one.

Scrap video referees and let's get back to Ref's making on the spot decisions rather than using the get out options.

But the bulk of the budget would be used to pay Turry O'connor to shut up !!!!

 

[sweaty craiq]

1. Sack all the refs and the structure that supports them, re apply for jobs and bring in other nations

2. Sack all the disciplinary panel and judges

3. Sack all RFL employees earning above 30k

4. Any club operating in a hovel to get kicked out of SL

5. Any clubs failing to hit 70% ground fill in 2 years to be kicked out of SL, min 10k capacity stadium

6. Every SL club must run academy and reserves

7. Dictate to Sky the commentary team and how to film games, especially crowd noise.

8. Ban Leeds Rhinos from pumping crowd noise through speakers

9 Introduce 2 tens with 4 French clubs and London.

10. Outlaw the grapple, bin ptb infringements that slow down the game

11. 4 subs 6 substitutions 

12. GET RID OF CAP

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by sweaty craiq

[GUBRATS]

Have to say watching today's match from CAS , hearing individual shouts from the crowd sounds bloody awful , group songs and chants fine , but individual stuff sounds small time , surely it's down to positioning of the microphones 

[wilsontown]

Reading the thread title, I can't help thinking about that GIF of Chris Morris leaping out of the office window...

[Mumby Magic]

Tbh. Sell it.

[fighting irish]

10 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

Tbh. Sell it.

Who too?

You were the only one daft enough to buy it in the first place.

[Mark S]

1. Sack the current board and senior staff.

2. Put together a 5 year investment plan (with no expectation of making the money back within that time).

3. Employ Commercial, Marketing and Operations directors with outstanding reputations and experience. Give them 5 years and a significant budget to build the game.

4. Give all SL clubs a £1M one off grant (£250k for lower league clubs), on the understanding that they relinquish control of the game to the new board.

5. Give terrestrial TV a free game each week.

6. Invest in the amateur game, and set clubs expectations of minimum standards, including increasing participation.

7. Ask Sky to bin off Baz n Tez

8. Improve all aspects of OurLeague app.

9. Centralise all merchandise and sponsorship deals for SL.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Mark S

[Robthegasman]

I would bring it all under one umbrella for a start.And that would be ALL aspects of the game professional,semi professional and amateur.

[Dave T]

A couple of people have touched on it, but getting a strong team behind the scenes with clear objectives is crucial. That goes for Proposition/Product, Marketing, Commercial, Operations, Coaching etc. and they all need to be given the right level of buy-in and investment to do their job well.

We have seen what can be delivered when we have the right steer and investment - with things like the World Cups. Often these are done with people who have worked on failed RFL initiatives in the past. In RL we have plenty of good ideas, we have great competitions, with great history and a willingness to adapt to be modern. We don't need to necessarily reinvent the wheel - we need to do what works, well, and do it again the next year, and again. 

[Racks]

I would...

Super League Top Tier

4 x 4 Divisions

West = Staints, Warr, Wig & Sal

East = Leeds, Brad, FC & KR 

North = Toronto, Ottawa, New York & Boston

South = Cat, Toul, London & Paris

TV Deals in 4 counties with millions more eyes.

22 Games = 6 H&W against own div, 8 H&W against another div rotated + 8 games against rest

This would create four division champions

Events (to generate more £ to replace missing home fixtures)

1) Grand Final (play offs Champions at home v 2nd (against team only played once) 

Semis and Final neutral Grounds

2) Challenge Cup (Magic Round? last 16 or

3) 9's Magic Weekend

4) All Stars x 4 Div  = 3 x Double Headers

5) Internationals

Tier Two - Regional Divisions (West, East, South, France, NAmer) (Graded licences for prospects to be added to Super League)